Got the message, Prime Minister?
Outpouring of sympathy for desperate asylum-seekers may force rethink of Government’s current hardline policy
Yesterday we launched a petition, urging the UK to ‘accept its fair share of refugees seeking safety in Europe’. Close to 200,000 people have already signed up. Many have gone further, posting pictures, giving money and offering practical help to asylum-seekers. Politicians of many parties have lent their support; and last night, finally, there were signs that David Cameron was listening.
But will he really offer action – or just words?
David Cameron was under intense pressure last night to fulfil Britain’s moral obligation to provide a safe haven for tens of thousands of desperate refugees struggling to reach safety in Europe.
By yesterday evening close to 200,000 people had signed a petition from The Independent demanding he abandon his refusal to accept more refugees fleeing war and persecution, after the publication of horrifying photos of a dead Syrian boywashed up on a Turkish beach pricked the national conscience.
As ordinary Britons and politicians of all parties came forward to demand the Government adopt a more humane response to the refugee crisis, Downing Street indicated that some kind of climbdown was imminent last night. A No 10 source told The Independent: “When we say we are keeping the situation under reviewyou can take that to mean that there will be action.”
An announcement – possibly involving Britain accepting thousands of refugees from UNHCR camps on Syria’s borders – is expected within the next 24 hours. The details will be scrutinised by refugee charities which have urged the UK to accept tens of thousands of Syrians.
The Independent can also reveal that the British Red Cross is launching a major appeal for donations, after it was inundated with offers of support from members of the public appalled by the images of the body of Aylan al-Kurdi.
Demonstrations are planned across the country this weekend and thousands have posted images on social media of themselves holding a “refugees welcome” placard.
Boris Johnson said it was Britain’s “moral responsibility” to take those fleeing persecution. Privately some ministers said they had been lobbying behind the scenes to get the Prime Minister to change his mind.
The Government has faced criticism from other European capitals over its failure to accept Britain’s “fair share” of up to 160,000 refugees who are set to be resettled under an emergency EU scheme.
Ministers have also refused to join a UN programme for resettling the most vulnerable refugees, instead setting up its own programme that has admitted just 216 vulnerable Syrians over the past year. By contrast, Germany has accepted 35,000 Syrians through the UN programme, Canada more than 10,000, Australia 5,600 and Switzerland 3,500. Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, said: “I am seriously concerned by the British Prime Minister’s position that the UK should not provide protection to more refugees from the Middle East.”
“At the moment the UK is doing much less than other European countries.”
The European Council President Donald Tusk, seen as an ally of Mr Cameron, upped the pressure by arguing that “all EU members” needed to take their share of refugees. Last night reports from Brussels suggested that, under a proposed new EU-wide deal, any member states that refused to accept their fair share of refugees would have to make a financial contribution.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, was sent out yesterday to say that the number of refugees Britain takes is “under review”. Earlier Mr Cameron himself refused to saywhether Britain would increase the number of refugees, saying that he was “deeply moved” by the images of Aylan al-Kurdi and that Britain would fulfil its “moral responsibilities”.
A significant number of Mr Cameron’s own backbenchers came out yesterday to criticise his response. Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative MP, said the image of a dead three-year-old washed up on European shores was a source of “shame”.
The acting Labour leader Harriet Harman said that Britain should be willing to accommodate up to 10,000 refugees. Writing on The Independent’s website Jeremy Corbyn, the front-runner in the Labour leadership race, accused Mr Cameron of “cowardice”.
“The politicians who pander to prejudice by warning of being ‘swamped’, or of the coming ‘swarm’, offer no solutions,” he wrote.
In Scotland, NicolaSturgeon said she was in tears when she saw the picture of the drowned Syrian boy, and that she was “very angry, at the ‘walk on by on the other side’ approach of the UK Government”.
Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said: “The Independent’s campaign is a timely intervention. Britain has a proud history of welcoming refugees in the most desperate times.”
Save the Children has called for Government to back its “five-point plan” to avert further tragedies. It calls for a regional response to the tragedy, a major searchand-rescue operation by the Royal Navy, more safe and legal routes for asylum-seekers into Europe, proper reception centres to sort refugees from economic migrants and a major Europe-wide resettlement programme.